I agree with the article, and I will also say if you're looking for a truly special experience, make the effort and go places on the planet where tourists simply don't venture.
In West Africa I repeatedly had people say "What means Tourist" and often people would want to touch me because they had never seen a white person.
I took a stupidly small route from Nigeria into Cameroon, and the Immigration guy that I eventually tracked down was more than a little shocked to see me. In three years working there, he had never seen a single foreigner.
When you spend time with people like that, it is a genuine experience, and sitting on floors to share communal food or being hosted in people's houses is something I will never forget as long as I live.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but white people love telling these stories (I'm white, american, middle class). I had the exact same reaction towards me in very rural India. I would love telling the story of me being the only white guy around for miles and probably years. For some reason we get a sense of pride telling others we have been to places nobody else like us have been to.
I'm British, and my birthplace has a moderately well-known football team.
I read up on their latest games before travelling, so I can discuss it with anyone who might ask or otherwise find out where I'm from. I think it makes me a bit less generic than the last 20 tourists who passed through that year, as they know something about me.
I doubt I've ever been the "first white person" to anyone, but several times I've been with children who probably haven't had a chance to stare before — e.g. a long bus journey.
> I agree with the article, and I will also say if you're looking for a truly special experience, make the effort and go places on the planet where tourists simply don't venture.
I agree, but you don't even have to go where no tourists venture. Just go where less venture. And, if you are American go to where less Americans go.
SEA is packed with Americans now because it's the current trendy place. Eastern Europe outside of the big spots like Prague are still pretty wide open though. Going in the winter also limits the number of other tourist (we went to Budapest in the winter once, enjoyed the hot springs nearly alone one evening and then went ice skating - quite fun).
This summer I was in Wales with a Dutch car. One day we parked the car on the side of a road and went for a hike. When we turned back to the car we could easily see the car from up high.
And the weird thing was, there was a van parked right next to it. There was no reason for it to be parked there; there was plenty of space; why park very close to my car? I assumed something was wrong.
When we returned to the car it turned out that the driver of the van was just curious what foreigners would show up.
Living in a city that is packed with tourists, it would never occur to me that someone would just wait next to a foreign car to see who shows up.
> I took a stupidly small route from Nigeria into Cameroon
When was this? I was invited to a wedding in rural Nigeria a few years ago, but considering the security situation it seemed crazy to contemplate going.
In West Africa I repeatedly had people say "What means Tourist" and often people would want to touch me because they had never seen a white person.
I took a stupidly small route from Nigeria into Cameroon, and the Immigration guy that I eventually tracked down was more than a little shocked to see me. In three years working there, he had never seen a single foreigner.
When you spend time with people like that, it is a genuine experience, and sitting on floors to share communal food or being hosted in people's houses is something I will never forget as long as I live.